We Resist: Day 8

One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.

So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.

Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.

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Here are some things I've read today:

Richard Stengel at The Atlantic: The End of the American Century. The other night, Iain put the same idea even more starkly: "Trump is the period at the end of the American sentence."

[Content Note: Video may autoplay at link] Mikhail Gorbachev at Time: It All Looks as if the World Is Preparing for War. Damn.

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Jeff Zeleny and James Griffiths at CNN: Donald Trump to Speak with Vladimir Putin on Saturday. Great. Everything is fine. So, when Trump and Putin have their chit-chat, is Trump going to use a secure line or his tweet machine? Because: Trump's Still Using His Old Android Phone. That's Very, Very Risky.

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Erin Kelly at USA Today: Pence Tells Congress to 'Buckle Up' and Get Ready to Enact Major Change. "Vice President Pence told Republican members of Congress on Thursday to 'buckle up' and get ready to work with the new Trump administration on everything from repealing Obamacare to confirming a 'strict constructionist' to fill the Supreme Court. 'My friends, this is our moment,' he told lawmakers at a GOP congressional retreat in downtown Philadelphia." I may have mentioned once or twice or three million times that the role Pence would play in this administration is leading this very charge.

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] And speaking of Mike Pence... Dan Merica at CNN: Pence to Address March for Life in Person. "Vice President Mike Pence will address Friday's March for Life in person, a first for a sitting vice president in the event's 43-year history." I don't guess I need to remind you about Pence's aggressively horrendous anti-choice record in Indiana, which has left the state one of the most dangerous in which to be pregnant in the entire country.

Michael R. Gordon, Helene Cooper, and Eric Schmitt at the New York Times: Trump Will Call for a Pentagon Plan to Hit ISIS Harder, Officials Say. "The White House is drafting a presidential directive that calls on Defense Secretary James N. Mattis to devise plans to more aggressively strike the Islamic State, which could include American artillery on the ground in Syria and Army attack helicopters to support an assault on the group’s capital, Raqqa, officials said. President Trump, who is to make his first visit to the Pentagon as commander in chief on Friday, will demand that the new options be presented to him within 30 days, the officials said. During the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump repeatedly said that he had a secret plan to defeat the Islamic State, but he also said that he would give his commanders a month to come up with new options." My position on this remains the same.

Andrew Revkin at ProPublica: Trump's Team at EPA Vetting 'Controversial' Public Meetings and Presentations. "On Tuesday, the new administration's efforts to take hold of the EPA continued, this time with a memo from EPA headquarters requiring all regional offices to submit a list of 'all external meetings or presentations by employees planned through February 17.' The memo demanded the offices provide a short description of each event and a note explaining 'whether it is controversial and why.'" WTF.

Esme Cribb at TPM: Report: Trump Admin Pulls Obamacare Ads in Last Days of 2017 Open Enrollment. "President Donald Trump's administration has abruptly halted ads and outreach for Obamacare set to run during the final days of the 2017 open enrollment season, according to a report published Thursday by Politico. Even ads that President Barack Obama's administration already placed and paid for have been pulled, Politico reported, citing sources at the Department of Health and Human Services and on Capitol Hill. The White House has also reportedly halted media outreach promoting enrollment, including emails sent to visitors to HealthCare.gov. ...The final days of the open enrollment period are 'seen as critical,' according to the report. This is due to a last-minute surge in sign-ups by individuals who procrastinate on enrollment, particularly younger and healthier customers." In plain English: Trump is trying to sabotage Obamacare, in order to call it a failure and justify replacing it.

[CN: White supremacy; violence] Tina Vasquez at Rewire: Trump's New Immigration Official Used to Lead Hate Group. "Julie Kirchner, former executive director of the anti-immigrant hate group the Federation of American Immigration Reform (FAIR), has reportedly been named chief of staff of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the federal agency that oversees Border Patrol. FAIR's leaders have ties to eugenics and white supremacist organizations, and its founder is credited with creating the modern anti-immigrant movement." CBP claims hers is merely "a temporary political appointment." Oh.

[CN: Transphobia] Luis Damian Veron at Towleroad: South Dakota to Consider Anti-Trans Locker Room Bill. "The latest state-level attempt to micromanage gender identity among trans youths comes in South Dakota, where two Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill that specifically designates locker room use by students in accordance with their sex [assigned] at birth." Goddammit. In hopeful news: "Governor Daugaard has already signaled his intention to veto any bill that is 'substantially the same' as last year's."

Karen Tumulty and Juliet Eilperin at the Washington Post: Trump Pressured Park Service to Find Proof for His Claims About Inauguration Crowd. Of course he did. Because he is a brittle, insecure despot with zero compunction about abusing his power to satiate his voracious need for adoration.

Speaking of which... Lucy Pasha-Robinson at The Independent: Government Library Bookshelves 'Filled with Donald Trump Books'. "A bookcase in the former State Department library in Washington D.C. has been filled with Donald Trump's books, it has been claimed. According to an unverified photograph that emerged on Thursday, shelves of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building's library are now stocked with reading material authored by the US president."

Trump's presidential portrait is terrific, obviously.

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?